Hydrogen-fuelled London taxi unveiled
Visitors to London’s 2012 Olympics may travel to the games in taxis powered by hydrogen following the unveiling of a new prototype fuel cell black cab at City Hall yesterday.
London’s Deputy Mayor for Policing Kit Malthouse, who chairs the London Hydrogen Partnership, announced that a fleet of up to 20 of these cabs will be on the streets by 2012. This falls into line with Mayor Boris Johnson’s call for zero emissions from all London taxis by 2020.
The London Hydrogen Partnership, which was created by former London Mayor Ken Livingstone to foster the deployment of hydrogen-based transport technologies, has stated these cabs will also be introduced with a new hydrogen infrastructure throughout the city. The group is currently scoping out locations for approximately six hydrogen pump stations.
Intelligent Energy, Lotus Engineering, LTI Vehicles and TRW Conek collaborated on the design and build of the new prototype cab, which relies on a fuel cell system hybridised with lithium polymer batteries. According to its specs, the cab is capable of top speeds of 80mph with a range of more than 250 miles on a full tank of hydrogen. A refuel takes approximately five minutes.
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